Unity, by design, helps developers create cross-platform content fast. However, many growing developers are not maximizing their potential for speed and efficiency. 

In this post, we’ll help you get familiar with hotkeys and shortcuts that can help improve your productivity while using Unity.

What are Hotkeys?

“Hotkeys” are keys or combinations of keys on a keyboard that are linked to certain commands within a program or platform. 

In this guide, we’re going to use hotkeys to mean single-key commands that you can use to switch effortlessly between different tools or actions within Unity. 

13 Hotkeys to Know in Unity

This is a non-exhaustive list of some of the handiest keyboard shortcuts in Davinci Resolve that will speed up your editing sessions and get you to a stunning final product faster than ever before. 

Basics:

• Hand Tool: [Q]
• Move Tool: [W]
• Rotate Tool: [E]
• Scale Tool: [R]
• Rect Tool: [T]
• Unified Tool: [Y]
• Toggle Pivot/Center: [Z]
• Toggle Global/Local: [X] 
• Vertex Snap: [V]
• Grid Snap: [Ctrl]
• Toggle Play: [Space]
• Next Frame: [.]
• Previous Frame: [,]

What are Shortcuts?

Shortcuts are key combinations that are linked to certain tools or actions in whatever software you may be using. Unity has many shortcuts that are “baked-in” to the software, but you can create and customize your own shortcuts to work seamlessly with your workflow. 

First, we’ll outline some of the default shortcuts within Unity, then show you how you can create your own.

19 Handy Shortcuts to Know in Unity

This is a non-exhaustive list of some of the handiest keyboard shortcuts in Unity that will help you design and develop faster and more efficiently. 

Scene Files:

• New Scene: [Ctrl/Cmd + N]
• Open Scene: [Ctrl /Cmd + O]
• Save Scene: [Ctrl/Cmd + S]
• Save As: [Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + S]

Editing:

• Create Empty Game Object: [Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N]
• Duplicate: [Ctrl/Cmd + D]
• Undo: [Ctrl/Cmd +Z]
• Redo: [Ctrl + Y] (PC) [Shift +Cmd + Z] (Mac)
• Cut: [Ctrl/Cmd + X]
• Copy: [Ctrl /Cmd + C]
• Paste: [Ctrl/Cmd + V]
• Select All: [Ctrl/Cmd + A]
• Invert Selection: [Ctrl/Cmd + I]
• Deselect All: [Shift + D]
• Find Object: [Ctrl/Cmd + F]
• Move Object to View: [Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + F]

Playback:

• Play: [Ctrl/Cmd + P]
• Pause: [Ctrl /Cmd + Shift + P]
• Step: [Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + P]

How to Add or Change Shortcuts in Unity

While these pre-built shortcuts may work for most developers, you may want to alter your workspace to make them more adaptive to their work style. Thankfully, Resolve makes it easy to do that by allowing you to reassign new shortcuts and hotkeys to tools or actions. 

Follow these steps to add or change your shortcuts and hotkeys in Unity:

Step 1: Locate the Shortcuts Manager in Unity’s main menu.

• For Windows, go to "Edit," then select "Shortcuts."
• For Mac, go to "Unity," then select "Shortcuts."

Step 2: You will now get a pop-up window that shows a keyboard layout and commands that are organized by category. Now, you want to choose whether you want to make a command “global” or “contextual.” 

• Global commands are commands that are always available. This means that, for example, whenever you press certain keys linked to the global command for “Undo,” it will always undo the previous action regardless of what windows or tools are currently active.
• Contextual commands are linked to a certain view or toolset; for example, they only work when you are in the Animation window. 

Something to keep in mind when editing global and contextual commands is that they can create shortcut conflicts. So you want to be careful to keep track of which commands are global and which are contextual when changing and customizing shortcuts. 

Step 3: If you would like to assign an action to a single key, select that command from the command menu and drag and drop it to the key you would like to assign it to. If you would like to add a modifier key to the command, such as Shift or Option, hold that key or keys down while dragging and dropping the command to the keyboard. 

To unassign or reset shortcuts: 

Step 1: Right-click the key you want to unassign or reset.  

Step 2: From the menu that appears, select “reset to default” or “remove shortcut” to either reset the key to its default shortcut assignment or remove the shortcut entirely.  

Now, you can create the perfectly personalized keyboard shortcuts that will help you fly through development and be able to remain focused on unleashing your creativity. 

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